Posted on 06/30/2010 9:36:19 AM PDT by fightinJAG
In March of 2010, the Department of Energy (DOE) filed a motion to withdraw its licensing application to construct the geologic nuclear materials repository at Yucca Mountain. If successful, the action would essentially terminate the project. Yesterday, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, the three-judge panel charged with conducting licensing hearings for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected that motion. This is a resounding victory for the future of nuclear energy. Though the Board’s decision was a surprise, it was the correct decision. Existing statute is clear that Yucca Mountain shall be the nation’s nuclear waste repository. So absent any technical or scientific justification for the motion to withdraw, moving forward with the President’s request would seem to violate the law. And that is precisely what the Board concluded.
The ASLB’s decision said:
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.heritage.org ...
Basically slow strangling of the nuclear power industry.
This move to close Yucca was a sop to the Left no less than the “move” to close Gitmo. It also was a very expensive gambit to try to help Harry Reid get elected.
Nice decision for the country here.
Another hit on Obummer’s regime.
Obama is recreating the “Yucca Controversy” to help save Harry Reid ass.
This pinheads first reaction/move to everything is incorrect.
excellent
but I predict the program will be obstructed as long as dingy Harry draws breath and obama rules the land
Reid fights it but loves the money being spent on it.
Yes, how many time do these cretins have to be told they are not playing by the rules and that they, gasp, are NOT ABOVE THE LAW?
Their legal posturing in the case lifting the moratorium on drilling was ridiculous. Now this.
Support Sharron Angle!
Barron's reports on another energy disaster--one engineered by Obama at our expense to help the flagging fortunes of Senator Harry Reid of Nevada:
OUR ASS-KICKING PRESIDENT should take careful aim at his own derrière. He's triggered a less publicized environmental mess with costs that rival BP's deep-water oil spill. The difference is that taxpayers-not some energy company-will foot the bill. The legal costs alone could top $50 billion. And if Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada loses his tough re-election bid come November, then, to borrow a phrase from an Oval Office operative, it will be money down the toilet.
This mess began last year when Obama cut off funding for a legally mandated nuclear-waste depository beneath Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The project has been opposed for years by Reid, who helped rally Nevada to Obama's side in 2008. The president obviously would like to help his ally.
[...]
Construction costs on the depository project already have topped $10 billion,
Obama's funding decision has created a huge waste-disposal headache for the nuclear industry, which now keeps old, highly radioactive fuel rods on site in temporary storage containers. Years ago, DOE signed contracts with the utilities to take the waste off their hands and store it at Yucca Mountain. Breach of contract suits filed by 72 utilities seek $50 billion in damages.
Another year of this, and Nevadans will be begging for high-paying Yucca Mountain jobs.
Surprising.
I knew the decision was political - a payback to Reid obviously - and was done only because Obama’s White House and DOE and EPA and NOAA and NAS (etc, etc, etc... ) really don’t want ANY nuclear ppwoer at all anywhere under any circumstances.
But I didn’t expect the NRC to be able to find a judicial method to overturn it.
I agree. It was a surprising, but correct result. And in hindsight, it seems pretty clear that DOE was overstepping its bounds.
Plus there’s that little matter in the background of millions of dollars in pending litigation for breach of contract.
Obambi seems completely unaware of the fact that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. He seemed to think he could “just shut Yucca down” without regard to the longterm contracts that had been let, without regard to the process required to determine an alternate site (sound familiar — Gitmo?), without regard to any of the repercussions at all.
He truly thinks he speaks, it happens. And it has no consequences, except good ones.
I’m more inclined to believe that he is doing all he can to keep us dependent on his muslim brothers for our energy needs.
“Further, while the President might not be permitted to withdraw the application to construct Yucca Mountain, it is highly unlikely that he will actually move to construct it. However, Congress can provide funds and direction to ensure that the program continues moving forward.”
While the NRC action is a step in the right direction, there still remains the hurdle of funding the repository. Stayed tuned for more dirty politics.
Yes. With these people, it is never over. They are never shamed, only emboldened.
This is Energy and Climate Change Commissar Carol "Director at Socialists International" Browner.
Quietly working behind the scenes, Browner is responsible for enforcing the socialist, anti-capitalist political policies of the Obama administration.
Unlike the Secretary of Energy, Browner is not subject to congressional oversight. But it is well known in the administration that she is more powerful than any cabinet secretary.
Inserting the two bogus paragraphs in the offshore drilling suspension recommendation was pure Browner. One of the few times we have seen her in public was after the BP offshore gusher.
yitbos
Good points. Thanks.
Harry Reid: "Yucca Mountain"
Browner: "Done!"
yitbos
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